A Salmon Tale.

It was a bright Sunny fall morning. The water current was smooth, and all seemed to be going well. In a town named, Bowchickawowow, in the Axe river their lived five little Salmon Fry. Trixy, the oldest, and smartest of the group was the last to wake. She filled her little gills with a breath of air and welcomed the beautiful day. Sadly, Trixy was the only survivor of her 8,000 brothers and sisters. She headed out in the river to catch up with her friends knowing that today, her life, and all her friend's would be changed forever.
When Trixy caught up to the group, they were having their usual morning feast. “Hey guys!,” Trixy yelled. Everyone nodded, to busy eating anything they could catch. As breakfast was coming to an end, Trixy spoke up and said, “Hey guys, do you remember the stories our parent's used to tell us as eggs?”
Everyone looked up and just laughed. She felt silly until one of the guys asked her to tell the stories. She smiled and began with the first story she could remember.
“Well, when I was just an egg, I remember my mother telling me about all the crazy stuff that her and you're guys parent's did together growing up.”
Trixy stopped and smiled. The thought of her parents was heart breaking, but at the same time, it made her feel adventurous. “It all started back when they were all little hatchlings themselves. Bella, my mother was the first to hatch, followed by Matt. That's your father Missy!,” Trixy said with a smile. “They were fast friends, and soon, they met up with Michael and Miranda. That's all the rest of you're guys parents! Well anyway, as they were swimming, they met up with a younger fish, Minty. She was...well, odd to say the least.” There was a long pause at the thought of what happened to poor Minty. And then Trixy continued.
“They were still pretty small you know, just little Alvin trying to get around. They had hard times surviving that fate, let me tell you. But the good stuff comes when their older, our age. They had a big change coming, and guys, today we face that same change.” Everyone looked at Trixy. They had no idea what could possibly go on. “Today guys, we take our trip to sea.” Everyone's little mouth's dropped. Trixy smiled and continued with the story. Everyone picked up the pace to catch up and hear. “Well Bella see, she was a thinker, kind of a know it all, but never rubbed it in your face. So naturally, she knew that their trip wasn't going to be easy. But no one knew the hard times they were going to face. Not like they cared though, they were too busy having a blast.” Trixy smiled. “Anyways, Minty, the youngest one, she had a major thing for Matt. It was a little gross I remember Bella saying. Matt though, he had a thing for Bella, and they both would say he only had eyes for her. Michael, Bella's brother and Miranda their sister, they were...well, not the brightest two of the pack. Michael was good at almost drowning though, that was his talent. If you want to call it that...and Miranda, she just wasn't bright. She laughed at silence, and giggled at floating goo. But getting back to their adventure,” Trixy was babbling again.
“They had been swimming forever it seemed. They were tired from all that swimming, when out of NO WHERE this huge fish just started chasing them. They were all terrified. Even Matt. They swam and swam and swam. They finally got away, but when they looked back, Minty was no where to be found.”
All of the group was tired, and decided to stop for a rest. It was quiet. It seemed everyone was thinking about poor Minty. All of a sudden one of the young ones saw something shiny bobbing in the water. Curious, he swam forward and no one noticed. He circled it, got right up next to it and bit down. Trixy yelled at the top of her gills, “NO!” But it was too late. Up went the little parr. He was gone and it seemed their group was down by one. Everyone swam forward looking for him yelling his name, but he was gone. The group fell quiet and the girls weeped quietly. Trixy, tears fading away, said it was time to keep going. No one said a word as they continued. A ways up stream, the kids noticed a change in the water. It tasted funny, and their stripes were starting to fade.
“ICK, this tastes awful!” one of the boys said, and Trixy just smiled. She was so excited to get out to sea.
A couple days had past and some of the kids were already ahead. Trixy still had the stories of her parent's and their friends in her head. The thought of them made her keep going made her continue with her trip. She was older now. She knew what to look out for. She was just about to make it into her new home, the big blue. Her little heart racing with excitement, but little did she know that danger was right behind her.
She made it. She was in the ocean. Her new home for the next four years. Ahead of her she could see a figure swimming toward her. Thinking it was one of her friends from the journey, she swam forward to greet them on their swim. Little did she know, she was swimming into a decision that could end her life. She was just about to get to her friend when she realized that this wasn't her friend at all, she was swimming right into the swarm of sea lions. When she saw what she had swam into, it was too late to just turn around. She ducked, and dived, swam and twirled. All she could think was how unfair it was that she had just begun her life, and it was already going to come to and end.
“Why, why now?” she yelled as she swam.
She was swimming as fast as her little body could take her. This was it, she couldn't swim any faster...she couldn't keep going. She stopped. Expecting pain, hurt and blood, she turned. They were gone. They were all gone, except for one. He swam forward and Trixy cried. He was swimming slowl, and she couldn't understand why he would tease her like this.
“Hello.” He said.
Trixy didn't understand. He said it again, a little slower so she could understand this time. “Hellloooo.” Silence. “Ok, you salmon get more and more stupid every year.”
Trixy had no idea what was going on. “I don't like to think of myself and stupid. And I don't usually talk to things that are about to eat and kill me.” Trixy was terrified. But someone calling her stupid was just a little to hard not to stick up to.
“She speaks,” the sea lion said. “My name is Sealmo. No one is going to eat you here, I'm here to guide you back to where your supposed to go. You took a wrong turn around the bend.”
Trixy didn't know what to believe, but slowly she followed. They swam out into a clear light blue water.
“Here you are,” Sealmo was gone as fast as he had arrived. Once again, Trixy was alone. She still didn't quite understand why a sea lion would help her, but then again, she guessed it didn't really matter.
As her journey continued, she kept getting bigger and bigger. She met friends, and enemies along the way. She loved the ocean. Her new home was everything she dreamed of as a fry. She thought about her old friends daily. She missed them, but new they were busy just as she was. She woke every morning waiting for the day that she would get her calling to come home. To go back to her lake. This thought scared her as well as excited her. She new that she would be a mom, but would never be able to see her little fry or alvin. That was hard for her, but she knew that's what she must do.
One day, Trixy was wandering through a coral bed, when all of a sudden something in her heart told her it was time. It was time to go and lay her eggs. Her heart jumped. She was ready and knew exactly what she had to do and what she was going to do. She turned around from right where she was and swam. She had tears in her little eyes as she swam. Her heart light and joyous. She met up with all her old friends just outside of the bay. They all laughed and remembered the good times.
They swam along just like they did when they were younger. they were tired, and worn down. Scared and hungry. They were almost there and they could feel it. Their hearts racing. All of a sudden, THUD, THUD, THUD. There was no where out. A wall, a solid wall stood in the way of their once fresh water homes. The town had built a damn and fish ladder blocking off half of the Axe river. They all swam back and looked at the beast that stood in their way. What were they going to do to get home?
Matt jumped and jumped and finally he was over. Everyone attempted the same. No one else made it. No one els but Trixy. The rest of their friends were left behind. Some stragglers they didn't know made it over as well but not enough. Desperately Trixy looked for a place to lay her eggs. She chose a spot where the current was a little less strong and the water was a little warmer. Trixy dug a redd and laid her eggs. She was exhausted. She turned to swim away, giving one last look at her eggs.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“GUYS! WAIT UP.” A voice rang out of the background. A clumsy small fish came swimming up in a hurry. Already, it was next fall. A group of small little fish were making their way to meal time. Not aware that they were on a vast journey to the deep blue sea.